The U.S. Marine Corps has released a new version of the SPEED software developed by Northrop Grumman for electro-magnetic spectrum situational awareness and operations.
Using the Systems Planning, Engineering and Evaluation Device (SPEED), communications planners can plan, model and analyze radio and jammer effects in a defined electromagnetic spectrum environment to better understand where communications degradation or interoperability issues may occur.
Version 11.1.1 adds 3D mapping and mission planning capabilities, including frequency-dependent rejection interference analysis, enhanced jammer modeling and effectiveness prediction.
Developed for the Marine Corps, SPEED is used by other services within the U.S. Department of Defense and joint operations and other U.S. federal agencies. SPEED has also been provided to a select few foreign nations through the Foreign Military Sales program.
In addition to use in Afghanistan and Iraq, SPEED has supported joint task forces, two winter Olympics, the 2009 U.S. presidential inauguration, and humanitarian assistance and disaster response following the Indonesia tsunami in 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Haiti earthquake in 2010, and the Japan earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
Northrop Grumman delivered the first version of SPEED in 1988; it has been in continuous operation for 25 years.
SPEED is a government off-the-shelf product available to U.S. government agencies. Northrop Grumman also has a commercial variant of these capabilities available for licensed sale.
[Image courtesy: The US Marine Corps]